


Tapetum Lucidum

by misbehavingvigilante



Series: Marvel Spookytober Prompts 2019 [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst with a Happy Ending, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 03:04:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21008663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misbehavingvigilante/pseuds/misbehavingvigilante
Summary: In which Tony isn't quite as alone as he's lead to believe.





	Tapetum Lucidum

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MountainRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MountainRose/gifts).

> [{Join me for the spook}](https://marvelspookytoberprompts.tumblr.com/post/188006745165/click-to-see-a-better-quality-of-the-prompts)
> 
> A spooky themed gift for a friend of mine. 
> 
> Day 12 - Mermaid

It’s not even a place of his own choosing, Tony’s not sure why that bothers him, but it does. He doesn’t fight it too much on the other hand, things are… not exactly great right now. He’s not really a child anymore but still he hadn’t expected to deal with both of his parent’s death in his early twenties.

A car crash of all things… such a common and simple way to go, it didn’t seem to suit him but then what kind of deaths did he really think his parents deserved? That was just not a thought he wanted to ponder, they were dead, and the company was his.

Or well, Obie’s. Understandably, after such a thing, Tony didn’t really need to be at the head of the company, he needed time to deal with his grief and get his head back on straight thus that’s why Obie had squirreled him away to this place.

A rather remote place, far up the east coast, further up the coast than Tony had ever been even while he’d been at MIT. The weather wasn’t as frigid as he had expected, though he’d been told not to go into the water as it was near or just below freezing.

Tony wondered if he was still in America because it might have looked bad if the Stark heir ran off into another country, if it would impact stocks or make the shareholders nervous. Not that Tony really cared about them right now. He should, he knows he should that’s where all this money is coming from but right now he can’t find it in himself to care about much.

He just feels empty and hollow inside.

Tony made an attempt to look like his eyes were following what Obie’s friend was explaining him since he was staying in the man’s house while the man fucked off to warmer weather, Tony supposed. He actually hadn’t been listening to what Obie and his friend had talked since Tony first walked in.

“So, I think that’s everything.” Obie’s voice said, louder than before clearly catching onto Tony’s disinterest. Tony would look apologetic, but he didn’t really feel like apologizing.

“Yes, just be mindful of the ocean. There’s a monster out there. Been known to bite into people.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, he was about to ask more about that but Obie cut him off. “Now, old friend, Tony doesn’t needs such tall tales, do you my boy?”

Tony felt Obie’s hands on his shoulder in the same grip that Tony had felt most of his life. The familiarity was grounding in a way, but he recognizes the dismissal. He wasn’t happy about that but if he was about to be alone then he wouldn’t argue.

“No. Thanks for showing me around.” Tony said politely, some lesson or not from what people had tried to drill into him knowing one day he would inherit a company, just no one had thought it would be under circumstances like this. “It’s a nice place.”

“You’ll have everything you need. Use the satellite phone if you need anything.” 

With that, he was finally alone and Tony pondered the monster.

An imaginary monster that no doubt didn’t exist and was just the imagination of some old man he had never met before. Even if there was a monster, Tony really wasn’t sure he’d care if he got eaten.

His parents were gone and while things between his dad and him had been especially strained, Tony still found himself missing the man. Sure, he’d never have to live with disappointing his dad again, but he would also never get another chance to make him proud, either.

To say nothing of what he felt for his mom, they’d been closer, and she had affectionate and open where his dad had never even told him, he loved him before.

How fucked up was that?

But here he was here now since the nature and the lack of paparazzi might help move through his grief quicker. Tony doubted they wouldn’t find out eventually where he was.

At least no one could bitch at him for underage drinking anymore.

~

Of course, the problem of being in a remote place make itself apparent very soon. There’s nothing really to do and Tony was a city boy at heart. Boredom seemed like reason enough to book it back to New York and just get into verbal fights with paparazzi because it was at least something to do.

On the other hand, there was no real easy way back to civilization. An ocean in front of him and a well wooded path behind him ensured that he wasn’t leaving unless someone came to come get him. Obie had promised he’d visit on top of that if he call on the satellite phone because signal was far too remote out here for anything else to have work, he’d send someone up if there was an emergency.

Not that he’d been left wanting for anything as the house had plenty of food, running water, electricity, and blissful heat, but even a variety of entertainment that Tony sensed Obie’s hand in picking to help keep him entertained while he was here.

The thing was, he was still bored.

Not wanting to risk the woods, Tony went towards the ocean instead.

Maybe it was a bad idea to do so in the middle of the night but it was the only thing he could think to do that was new. He hadn’t seen the ocean yet and supposedly humanity was calmed down by being near a body of water too. So maybe it would help.

Or maybe the ocean would rise up and claim him into a watery grave, either way, it was something new.

There was a dock, and by its construction it looked like it had held some type of water maneuvering vehicle before, it would have been nice if that had been left but at the same time Tony can see why that might have been removed in its current state.

Hell, even if his parents hadn’t just died, he did have a reputation for wrecking shit.

Still the dock was nice, Tony would have humored taking his shoes off if it hadn’t been winter. Speaking of being out of season, Tony vaguely wondered if Obie’s friend just had some memory issues and still thought it was near Halloween rather than months past it. It may have been cause for Obie’s dismissal being as it was too.

In the distance, Tony noticed something glowing but didn’t think anything of it.

Plenty of animals had tapetum lucidum in their eyes, and such they glowed, it wasn’t anything supernatural, it was merely science.

Had that really been enough to scare an old man? He had been older than Obie after all.

Tony snickered, finding some humor in that and feeling better than he since his parents died. Maybe he was a terrible person to find humor in something like that, but he did.

~

After that point, it became sort of habit for Tony to visit the ocean at night. It was usually the dock, since it was easier to shake sand off him by limiting the time he spent in it. Not that Tony didn’t like the beach, but he didn’t really have all the amenities of home here, remote means things could go out or have problems and even if Tony was pretty handy he didn’t want to deal with the extra work if necessary.

Aside from the generator. Tony had already vamped that sucker up as it hadn’t been operating very well, sure, it worked, but it had been really inefficient.

He just didn’t seem to have the energy to do much these days which was strange as it didn’t seemingly correlate the excessive amounts of caffeine he drain in hopes of combating it. For once in his life, he slept more fitful patches of naps and maybe an hour or two here and there but still more than he got normally.

Sometimes when he laid down to go to sleep he remembered the eyes that rose just out of the water, every night he went out without fail.

In a way, it made Tony not feel so alone even if he was well and truly alone.

~

Despite the constant of the glowing eyes, Tony can never pinpoint them for very long until they go back under the water only to appear again in a different area. For an animal, it’s quite shy, apparently. He doesn’t think too much of it. As plenty of animals learnt how to survive by being avoidant so it makes sense.

Tony never really means to sleep outside but it’s happened on occasion, he gets comfortable laying down on the wooden dock, looking at the stars because if there’s one thing this place has on the city, it’s the stars.

And then he accidentally falls asleep, without fall if he’s able to sleep or if he was sleeping the water always kicks up with activity. Not quite like a tide but the movement of something big and heavy diving between the pillars of the dock behind him.

There’s plenty of sea life and since he tends to do this around the same time each night he’s probably just running into an animal that’s hunting.

The glowing eyes creature has never come anywhere near to the dock, so Tony knows it’s not that at least.

Still, it’s peaceful out here compared to the warmth within, the chill on his skin, the sound of moving water, and the stars above him make for the best sleep he’s had since he’s come here. So Tony keeps sleeping, and something inadvertently keeps him from dying from exposure.

~

Tony hasn’t kept track of it he’s eating enough or not. It’s mainly caffeine which seems to be suppressing his appetite, either that or well, he’s just not hungry.

But since he’s already doing so many dangerous thing he thinks feeding the wildlife can’t hurt either. He goes through a few experiments seeing if he can bate the glowing eyes near him or the one that wakes him into an appearance.

Regardless of the medium he chooses, nothing ever comes into sight.

Tony feels disappointed but then again, he’s used to feeling disappointed.

Why would anything change now? There’s probably just nothing that the animal wants, many of them like a live meal and well, there’s limits of what Tony is willingly to do in the name of science.

~

On another night, he’s stargazing this time with his legs hanging off the dock and one arm hanging off because nothing’s attacked him yet so it’s probably safe.

The water’s edge is just out of reach, with the crease of waves occasionally getting his fingertips wet but it’s a barely there cold and it’s probably fine even if the water is nearly freezing. There’s some vague warning in the back of his head about wet body parts chilling faster than warm ones but he figured if he goes back earlyish tonight it should be fine.

Or he’ll get sick, and Obie will have to come out.

He hasn’t visited once and Tony is sure it’s because Obie is busy, and he’s not being ignored but it sure feels like it.

Tony feels the brush of something wet but smooth brush against his fingers. It’s the first time he’s felt anything brush against him this entire time, so of course Tony gets excited and goes after it.

He leans over the dock, his head lightheaded and his stomach swimming with how fast he changed position and however he sees nothing. Tony squinted wondering if he looked hard if he’d find something but only hint of something being there was that the water had been disturbed. Stilling rippling with something having gone across it not that Tony can see anything hiding in the water.

It’s too late and the water is too brackish, and it’s not like his eyes were adapted to see in low-light conditions.

He should feel disappointed but instead Tony smiles in the first time in he can’t remember how long. He had contact with something. He felt something brush against him, so he had proof mounting in this so-called mystery.

~

Tony pieced together what he knew so far, even taking into account the ‘monster’ that apparently liked to take a bite of people. He paired that with smooth skin, at least in one direction, and added tapetum lucidum and came up with shark.

Granted there’s some holes in the plan, for one sharks tend to like warmer weather, even if there are species that can be adapted towards the cold and the location. It’s an unusual location for a shark but if there’s enough food, well, then anything should be possible.

Tony argued with himself, there’s always a lack what science knows, and then sometimes that science think it knows before it’s proven wrong over years later.

So Tony does something dangerous again.

That really could be title of his autobiography at the this point or at least the chapter in his life right now. How to cope with your parent’s death? Do increasingly dangerous thing because you’re bored and it’s new and interesting!!!

Rhodey would not be happy, but Rhodey’s not here right now so Tony had taken a knife from the kitchen out with him to the docks and nicks one of his fingers. Blood wells to the top of the skin, as he presses on the nearby area more and more to drop blood just off the docks.

He’s at least not sticking in his bloodied hand into the water. Tony feels like he should get points for that.

He also pointedly doesn’t think about the fact maybe the only reason he’s thinking shark because then he can dress up a way to hurt himself and say it’s science.

Tony waits a few minutes and nothing happens.

It’s then Tony realized he hasn’t even seen his nightly companion tonight either. It’s two really small thing, science often is a test of time in itself to provide results but the lack of failure stings and then with the fact the only, only thing that’s showed up with fail every night he’s been here suddenly hasn’t?

Well, Tony does it before he even really thinks it through.

He knows that it’s a bad idea that his hands are useful for a lot of things and it’s going to be much more difficult to explain a large wound on his hand like this than it would have been if he had just had the patience to pull up his sleeves and cut his wrist.

But he doesn’t. 

He runs the knife over his hand and winces but then there’s much more blood rising to the surface than the simple nick he’d done to his finger.

If this doesn’t attract something, then he probably was just imagining everything because he was lonely.

Humans are social creatures after all and Tony hasn’t seen any in nearly a month now.

Of course then, only after being overly depressive and dramatic something happens. Tony wants to laugh or he does laugh when a familiar set of eyes appeared. Only this time it’s up close and he gets to see finally what they’re attached to.

“I’m dreaming.” Tony mutters to himself, because there really isn’t an explanation otherwise compared to the fact he’s apparently seeing a mer creature in front of him. A very nice and human chest, very tits out that Tony could have appreciated under any other set of circumstances. But definitely not a human by the glowing eyes under cover of darkness or with how there was webbing between those hands that gently took the knife away from him.

“You’re bleeding.”

“So you’re what part-shark?”

“That’s… I don’t know where that belief come from, it’s not so much blood as it is fish guts.” The blond said, and that was an interesting hair color underneath the water. Hair in general seemed like it’d only get in the way underwater if Tony thought about it, but it was short instead of like little mermaid length.

Also teeth, that part of old man’s tale hadn’t been a lie as Tony could see that they had rather sharp teeth. Sharp enough Tony could cut himself on them if he only tried to touch them.

“Are you listening to me?”

“No, not really…” Tony admitted, he hadn’t even heard anything. He hadn’t lost enough blood for that, so it was just him not paying attention again. “Were you ever going to show up? Or were you just going to keep me waiting in suspense?”

“I…” The mer looked remorseful. “I thought distance was good, but then I didn’t think you would do this. I’m sorry I drove you to this.”

“You didn’t. Not really, at least.” It was Tony and his ideas that had pinned everything on something he hadn’t known for sure existed. “Do you have a name because if you can speak English, I’m assuming you have something you call yourself.”

“Steve. I know you’re Tony. You talk to yourself sometimes.”

“Well, not quite to myself was it?” Tony pointed out.

“I guess not. You should do something about that, I’m pretty sure salt water is bad for human wounds so I can’t do it for you.”

“If I leave, then how will you know if I do or not?” Tony asked, experimentally, not that he really planned on doing anything else but he was just curious.

“I’m keeping the knife and I can smell if you do anything else. I will come after you if you do, though. I just… rather not unless I have to.”

“So if you have a human form does that mean you’re naked when you switch?”

Steve’s flush was absolutely scarlet and trailed down his body in a beautiful display. Tony could appreciate that at least. “Right. I’ll try to find some clothes for you then we can talk inside later.”

“Okay, but you should know something first.” Steve was holding his uninjured hand now. “Those people you were smelled bad.”

“Well, they are older and that-“

“No, like that.” Steve shook his head. “You need to stay away from them. I don’t think anything good will happen if you stay.”

“Well, I guess if anyone tries something they’ll just be another attack, right? That was you?”

“I only did that when necessary.”

Tony considered that, he didn’t really have a lot to go on but Steve’s words, but he really felt like Steve was a honest before, far more than someone he met once, and his lifelong family friend who hadn’t even checked up on him with a simple phone call either right now.

“Let’s talk about that, later on. But I have a question first, are you averse to moving somewhere warmer?”

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna chat, I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thiefoftruth26/).


End file.
